A friend of mine used to say whenever he was taking offerings, “If you have none, borrow from your neighbour so that when the basket is going round, God will see you putting something in.” Then he would add, “It will not be long before you too will lend to others.” God takes giving a sacrifice in His temple so seriously that He always observes what people drop in the offering basket. In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus watched the offerings that people gave and weighed which ones were sacrifices and which were not. This tells you clearly that God is keen on accepting sacrifices in His temple.

Some people say that because they don’t trust their pastor, they will rather give to the poor than give in church. First, I don’t understand why they have a pastor they believe to be a thief. Secondly, it is good to give to the poor; Proverbs 19:17 says that when you give to the poor, you are indirectly giving to God. However, you must never neglect giving your sacrifices in the house of God itself. If somebody says he likes me and gives my children money whenever he sees them by the roadside, but he refuses to give when he sees that there is a need in my family, despite knowing the way to my house and having money to give, I will begin to suspect such a fellow. It will be clear that he isn’t giving to my children because he likes me but for other reasons. This might be because he just wants to be seen in public as a giver or that he wants to gain some undue influence over my children. It’s the same when you claim to give to the poor in the name of God but never give in the house of God itself.